


Gravity

by darkangel1211



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, M/M, Preview, Work In Progress, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 07:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7749304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkangel1211/pseuds/darkangel1211
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru tucks Rin’s head under his chin again, meeting the questioning eyes of the others and gently shaking his head, warning them to stay back.</p><p>Makoto’s face falls a second too late for him to hide it from Haru and Haru knows they both know now.</p><p>Something’s wrong with Rin.</p><p>(Alternate ending to season 1 - Haru doesn't find Rin in time before the start of the relay).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my first foray into the Free! universe! 
> 
> So I watched episode twelve of season one and thought, 'what if...'
> 
> And here we are. There has been a slight update to chapter one, which is still technically a preview, but I'll be posting the remainder of the story in chapter two when it's finished.
> 
> (By the way, this was supposed to be smut - I don't know what happened).
> 
> Enjoy!

Rin slips when he tries to get out of the pool, his entire body tense and somehow weak all at once. Even from this distance, Haru can see the way Rin is struggling; he watches Rin fail to get out a second time and he’s already on his feet, Makoto calling after him, but all he can really hear is the blood pumping in his ears, the gasping breaths in his chest.

He doesn’t find Rin.

Even after the startling revelation that Rin had been kicked from the relay with his team the night before, explaining his performance in the butterfly race earlier. Even after Rei says Rin can take his place in the Iwatobi team relay. He shouts Rin’s name as he runs, but none of the people he passes bear the red hair he recognises.

Haru doesn’t find Rin… Not until he does.

It’s too late now; they’ve missed the check-in for the relay, Haru knows this, yet it pales in comparison to the image of Rin on his knees before the tree that closely resembles the old cherry blossom from school. He has the stick Haru used yesterday, idly tracing the words Haru had left there, but the action is too stilted, too practised, almost like he’s going through the motions of spelling those three words again and again.

The day before, those words might have inspired something in the red-haired man before him, a fire that would have blazed with a ferocity that has always been infectious. Today, red eyes don’t lift to meet Haru’s blue ones. Not even with a murmured, “Rin,” from Haru. Rin just stops, his hand dropping the stick and pulling back from the letters in the dirt, and then he doesn’t move.

Haru drops to his knees beside Rin, putting a hand on the shoulder closest to him. “Rin,” he tries again and there, a single tear trails down one cheek, then the other, but Rin’s face isn’t twisted like it usually is when he cries.

It’s blank, eyes unseeing, and this lack of emotion scares Haru more than anything.

Without thinking, Haru pushes up and straddles Rin’s hips, pulling him close and tucking the other man’s head under his chin. Rin doesn’t respond, but the tears keep falling; Haru can feel them as they trickle down his neck, yet no shudders pass from Rin’s body to his. Rin feels heavy and sluggish in his arms; his breath the only thing reminding Haru that he’s still alive. He can feel it, the light gusts against his neck as Rin breathes. Smooth, even and _wrong…_

“Rin.” Haru pulls back, cupping Rin’s face in his hands, smoothing his thumbs across cheeks to wipe away the tears. “Please…” He doesn’t know what he’s asking for; something, anything to put the fire back in those eyes.

“Haruka-senpai!”

Nagisa and the others pull to a stop, their panting breaths resounding, and Haru tucks Rin’s head under his chin again, meeting the questioning eyes of the others and gently shaking his head, warning them to stay back.

Makoto’s face falls a second too late for him to hide it from Haru and Haru knows they both know now.

Something’s wrong with Rin.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued


End file.
